Edited for review – higher permission level required

I find there’s something fascinating about top-down games. It started with Diablo 2, developed over the years, and is what originally attracted me to Redacted. The game doesn’t really want you to know that – and we can’t really blame it – but it’s a spin-off from Callisto Protocol. Set in Black Rock Prison, the same prison found in sci-fi horror games, on each run you take on the role of a different security guard trying to escape the chaos that ensues.

Thankfully, you don’t need to know much about Callisto to play Redacted – you can just jump in and start blowing up room after room of aliens – mutants, robots, and prisoners – on your way to the Jupiter moon. The last escape shuttle.

The first thing you notice about Redacted is its art style. The fusion of animated shading art and frame-based movement in cutscenes is a significant and welcome departure from Callisto Protocol. The overall tone is lighthearted, full of humor, clichés, and plenty of sarcasm. While it makes sense to keep it light-hearted in a game like this, I did ultimately want the narrator to shut up.

It was a fun experience until I died the first time and realized that it all seemed similar to a fairly popular game from Supergiant that recently got a sequel.

The Rise of the Disciples of Hades?

Yes, the most obvious thing about this game is that it’s a Hades clone. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing – there are plenty of metroidvanias, Souls-like games, and battle royale games out there that prove you can build on other games to create something great. It has a lot of the same formula – dash around, clear rooms full of enemies, choose between power-ups, create a build based on your weapons, unlock terminals in the center area, and of course, get more powerful with each run.

However, Redacted does add its own unique ideas, the most obvious of which is that you’re not the only one fighting for that last escape pod. In each run, you compete against at least three other NPCs, each a well-defined but definitely not well-tuned character. This adds a sense of urgency to your game as it sets a time limit for each run.

This dual objective introduces an extra layer of engagement – in addition to fighting off enemies in a room, you’ll also need to attack your opponents from range until you can get into the same room as them. However, even then, they have a chance to escape and live to fight another day. Each of the eight opponents holds a keycard, and once you collect them all, you can open the Warden’s bunker, which contains some major revelations.

You can remotely pause or slow their progress by turning the Correctional Facility’s security against them, subject them to greater damage if you anticipate encountering them, or even cause a remote explosion to drain their health. Developing a strategy for when to use which tool to target which opponent will make you feel like a master tactician. You’ll be incentivized to defeat your opponents, or at least weaken them before reaching the end; if not, you’ll be thrown into a boss rush featuring all of them. I learned this the hard way.

Occasionally, you’ll come across a room with a computer where you can “unedit” any competitor’s intel. They also become weaker with each unedited file, taking more damage as you learn their messy history. This is one of the most unique metroidvania progression features I’ve seen in a long time.

Along the way, you’ll also have the chance to fight the corpses of guards you played as in previous games, using the same weapons and body types. While the idea is interesting, I didn’t find the rewards enticing enough to add another tough boss fight into the mix, especially if I died at the end of the previous run.

Be prepared for your escape

As with any metroidvania, you are encouraged to create a version based on the weapons of your choice. Redacted gives you melee and ranged weapons, but they don’t always complement each other. I find myself not using melee weapons in the heat of battle unless I’m out of ammo and have no other choice.

Redacted misses out on the information gleaned from Hades, with primary and secondary attacks being mixed together depending on the weapon chosen. If the weapon’s primary attack is a melee attack, then the secondary attack is a ranged attack, or something similar. While the weapons in Redacted are fun to use, you won’t find yourself switching between them seamlessly while clearing a room full of enemies. This is an intentional choice that sometimes breaks the flow.

As for the weapons themselves, you’ll start with regular pistols and batons, then progress to linear beam cannons called atoms and whips that deal area damage. As weapons become more powerful, using them becomes more fun. I upgraded the Atom to pierce enemies and fire three beams at once. I just rush to a corner and fire an atomic bomb into the center to clear some rooms.

While I was hoping that it would somehow incentivize me to use the previously unlocked weapons, there are clearly some that are more powerful and making me go back feels like shooting myself in the foot. You can also choose to change your outfit before each run, with each outfit offering specific bonuses. However, a large portion of the options come with bonuses that attract the ability of some type—perfect for planners, but less so for improvisers like me. I ended up choosing the set that gave me the most health.

Once you’ve progressed far enough in the game, many resources become redundant because you’ve unlocked everything it has to offer. Once I unlocked each kiosk and powered it up, I started ignoring the electronic rewards, with the rest providing only nominal buffs to certain features. While this made my choices at the end of the room easier, it also made the scope of the game narrower.

It’s time to run again

The most important thing about a game like Redacted is that it makes you want to start a new game as soon as you die. Indeed. One brisk run before bed turned into two runs, which turned into three runs. That’s pretty much all it takes. I knew where and why my guard died and immediately wanted to correct it. And, despite being back in the same version, I do want to unlock the remaining weapons and buffs.

But what stopped me from doing a fourth round was that the first three rounds felt the same. I don’t want to change my build and have the level design feel the same every time. I couldn’t choose which opponents to face on each run, so I couldn’t focus on the end goal of collecting all the keycards. It doesn’t strike a balance between tempting me with the next unlock and making me work for it.

Unfortunately, the most negative factor for Redacted may be its release date. The game will be released on October 31, following the Hades 2 Olympics update. However, if you’re tired of Melinoe, Redacted is a great alternative with fresh ideas.

Review on PC (Steam)

Roguelike

dungeon crawler

action

shooter

Published

October 31, 2024

Developer

amazing distance studio

advantage

• Weapons are fun to play with
• The art style and tone make it easy
• Bring original ideas to recipes

shortcoming

• Primary and secondary weapons do not complement each other seamlessly
• Some rewards quickly become redundant
• Living under the huge shadow of “Hades 2”